Just How Long is a Scandinavian Christmas!? >

by Cathie Mayr

The first Christmas after marrying into my Scandinavian family, my German husband observed with an incredulous tone: "Your family Christmas goes on for weeks!" My reaction was along the lines of: "and your point is?" Like all good Scandinavians everywhere, we were raised to make the most of the holiday season.

Scandinavians living in the 900s had established laws that the Yule celebration was to occur on Midwinter Night and continue for three nights. Everyone was to make ale for the celebration or pay fines, and was to keep the holidays while the ale lasted. December 13th marked the winter solstice when all work ceased and preparations for Christmas had to be complete. In those early times the Yule celebration honored ancestors who were believed to return to their former homes during the darkest days of winter.

By 1030 Christianity was fairly widespread throughout Scandinavia bringing
with it the pre-festival fasting (Advent) and new worship and festival schedules. Christmas was then considered to last from December 24 to either January 6 or 13 (sources disagree).

Advent
Advent fasting, no longer practiced in Scandinavia, was originally designed to ensure celebrants' spiritual preparedness to celebrate Christ's birth. The pre-Christmas lutefisk dinner is a remnant of the Advent fasting ritual.

Christmas Eve
When the clock strikes 5 p.m., church bells all over Scandinavia ring in Christmas. The bell signals that all work must cease. In early times this had been December 13th. Tradition grants children (not adults) permission to open one present that day.

Christmas Day
Christmas day activities are typically confined to immediate families and closest friends. Most Scandinavians enjoy a prolonged Christmas breakfast presented as a koldtbord ("cold table" buffet).This derives from the long-practiced custom of leaving the food on the table overnight.

Second Christmas Day
In the early 1800s, a shortage of ministers existed in Scandinavia. Ministers having to serve more than one parish could not physically get to all of them on a single day. The deeply ingrained Scandinavian sense of equality led to the creation of a Second Christmas Day in order to ensure that everyone was able to attend a Christmas Day service. Second Christmas day is considered no less sacred than the first.

Romjul
December 26th, or Second Christmas Day, begins an extended period of hospitality, visiting and celebrating that lasts through romjul - the term Scandinavians apply to the days between Christmas and New Year's Day.

Epiphany
January 6th marks the end of the Christmas period in most Christian countries. This is the day Scandinavians take down their trees and decorations.

So no wonder my husband thinks a Scandinavian Christmas goes on forever!

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